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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-23-2013 09:37 PM

OVT

Re: Lo Tec 10g step-by-step: as told with a ton of crappy pictures and failed logic

Glad some of my travails were of help.
The very last picture is of a different tank, a 17g hi tech with Hagen GLO 2 x t5ho.
The 10g does have 2 CFL bulbs that soon will be moved over to the 30g. Sorry for the confusion.

Even though I like plants, I do like something moving among them. The 5 existing Black Molly fry and the snails did not satisfy my desire for more fins. That started my predictable search for the additional occupants.

Over the following 2 weeks I jerked around many people and single-handedly propelled the hit count on anything fishy to the new heights on Google. Given that I only had 10g to play with, I concentrated on 'nano' fish: CPD, badis, ember tetras, rasboras of different stripes and colors, Microdevario kubotai, and even glow light tetras were on my list.

Predictably, I ended up with something different: C. pygmaeus and Sparkling Gourami﻿. Even this effort did no go without snafus. The first shipment of fish arrived with some DOAs (for which I was given prompt, no questions asked credit). The subsequent order was screwed up by me as I went long on the previous DOAs and the seller run out of corys.

Even if you know that the fish is tiny, you are still unprepared to how tiny. Very tiny indeed. Hard to believe that you can 'loose' 15 fish in a 10g.

After watching the fish for about a week I decided that more is better and that I'm missing that all-elusive 'center fish'. That lead me on another chaise that was not without it's own set of issues.

The sale at PetSmart was my downfall: against my better judgement and experience I decided that saving a $1 per fish was too hard to resist. I was going to get 4 German Blue Rams but after examining the PetSmart's stock I took home just 1 pair as they did not have another male to my liking. Back I went the next day (when they receive new fish) and home I went with 1 more.

Why 1 M + 1 F were not good enough for me? First off, the rams are max 1", even when wet. Second, my experience with a single pair of cichlids or with 1 M + 2 F are not that great: either the pair does not like each other and fight for the rest of their lives or one F kills the rival F. Blah... So, the common wisdom is to get around 6 juvies and let them sort things out. Right, it's all logical but no one told that to the rams.

Initially, my 1 M + 2 F decided to make the other 1 M's life difficult. Like chasing him around and pushing him in the side. Once that game got stale, 1 M + 1 F decided that there will be more romance in their future. Now the previously persecuted M is left alone, but one F is chasing the other F. Reminds me of the HS. The only good news here is that if the current state of likes/dislikes holds, the 10g will be left to the lover birds and the other M+F will get moved to another tank. IF I can catch them... and if I do ... the right ones.

All alive. The 7 corys promptly went into the tank and do what corys do the first 1/2 hour: swimming all over the place

Now, everything is well but do I really want/can have 6 Gourami in a 10g? Scratch head here, scratch head there. Damn if you, do damn if you don't. My mistake - gotta find a solution. After some fuzzy soul searching and self-lynching I add 1 new Gourami to the 10g and (gasp) add the other 3 to my 17g.

What's wrong with that brilliant solution? The new Gourami is being chased by the other 2. Crossing my fingers that they will work things out, helpd out by me moving some plants around. Gotta watch that now and hope for no dead bodies.

The 17g for the other 3 new Gourami was a panic-driven compromise. It's a great, established, over-planted and under-stocked tank:

It houses 12 ottos and 2 and a half Black Mollies. BUT it is also home to 4 Dwarf Puffers... Oh my. Did I just fed some young, innocent fish to them? It's not even the $$. It's that feeling of dread when your stupid actions are likely to result in something bad and irreversible. 15 mins after my 'dinner served' action I brave a peek into the 17g: one Sparkling Grourami is calmly swimming right between 2 DPs that are an inch apart. Um, I have no idea what is going through the DPs murderous brains... They have been leaving Black Molly fry alone for the last couple of months but this!?! Another tank that needs close watching and some prayers.

As they say: "The worst enemy of Good, is Better".

thanks for your ideas.... you previously said that you had 75W EcoSmart CLF
but in the pictures those are not them, they are different What are they ?

05-12-2013 08:16 AM

OVT

After a long search, I finally found a 30g 24" x 24" x 12"H tank that will replace this one in a week or so. I do not expect to update this journal from now on.

Another water change and some trimming: 4 stems of L. repens, Limno, R. Bangladesh got a trim. I keep dividing and pulling out more Blyxa.

Started adding some red stems: the corys really like the wide leaves of A. reineckii and now hang on them more and more often. Also planted 1/2" R. macrandra to see if it will survive. No visible signs of algae.

After the trim:

The stand-off:

Baby macrandra:

04-05-2013 12:54 AM

OVT

Another trim

11 days later and it's time for another trim + WC. Algae check does not uncover much of anything and I leave the tank's glass alone for now.

I am slowly moving towards a more open scape, but I am still concerned about the tank's stability and the comfort of the inhabitants. The trim:

The result:

Most of the grow-out Hygro will be pulled tonight as they have been promised to another TPT member. I will probably plant the area they currently occupy with some HC I have floating in another tank.

The over-grown Blyxa was pulled and replaced with tiny versions in the front right corner.

Both the Red Tiger Lotus and the Banana plant are starting to take off. I got to keep both of them in scale:

Hey! Who is eating my plants!!! Started moving snails out:

Ludwigia is not doing too badly after the last trim:

Blyxa is not looking too shabby either:

The Cory Bar: food? where where where? C'mon man, another beer:

04-01-2013 03:40 PM

OVT

Update

The GBR eggs are gone and no fry...

Moved 2 and then 2 more Black Molly fry out. Somehow, out of the original 6 I still have 4 left in the tank.

So far, no algae. Trimmed all Rotala Bangladesh which grew to ~20", pulled the largest grow-out Hygro, a water sprite and some more Blyxa. The plants are going to a couple of friends.

The tank still looks too full of plants. But the fish needs it, ... right?

via Droid DNA Tapatalk 2

03-27-2013 01:03 AM

OVT

Eggs

My planned discourse on the tank inhabitants got upstaged by a pair of GRB spawning last night. Almost from the start I thought that I have identified a pair in the making, one 'loaner' male and one 'the other woman'. My biggest surprise is that it's the last two that spawned, and not 'the pair'.

Working a completely STUPID schedule of 7days/12hr shifts for the last month my tanks look like $&*$%!!! Finally made it to startup mode on this power generating pig of a power plant. We get to drop back to 10hr day's starting tomorrow. (doing the dance) Might even get a couple days off next weekend.

Thanks for the thread,,, it was the read I needed today.

03-24-2013 05:25 PM

Neatfish

Your problem is you have to many plants mine is I don't have enough plants. I dig the tank looks like a jungle. What's that plant growing on top of the tank?

03-24-2013 12:49 PM

OVT

First trim and evaluation

As per my previous post, it is time to trim and check the plants more closely for the first signs of trouble.

Without doing pre- and post- planting dry weight test, I am guessing that the plant mass doubled in the last ~ weeks. The surface is now ~75% covered with pennywort, water sprite, L. repens, S. sessiliflora and R. 'Bangladesh'. I trim the L. repens to ~4" off the substrate, remove the trailing water sprite stems and shove the rotala to the side. This gives me better access to the mass of floating pennywort.

The first thing I do is check the roots: they are long, bushy and dense. The bad news is that I'm seeing some strands of the thread algae. Not really unexpected. Based on this appearance I take two remedial actions: I thin the plants more then I initially wanted (to improve circulation) and I raise the water level ~ 1/4" to slightly reduce the o2. I trim off ~1/2 of the plant to open the substrate to more light.

Blyxa is next: it looks green, healthy and ready to take over whatever space is left. I pull out the longest stems and check the roots. The roots are long and healthy. The roots on the water sprite are partially in and out of the substrate and looking white and healthy, with no signs of rot. Given the state of the roots on Blyxa and the water sprite, I will not vacuum or loosen the substrate.

Vesuvius is next: I remove several decaying blades and check the runners. I find at least 3. I remove the longest, which is snaking all over the tank. That guy has 9 plantets (smile). Even with a bunch of runners, the plant is staying put and I see no signs of rot on the roots visible above the substrate. Another indicator to leave the substrate alone.

The S. sessiliflora is looking better then in any of my high-light co2-injected tanks (as expected). It is now snaking across the surface from the back corner to the front. That's about 10". I really do not want to reduce the plant load in this small tank too much too fast. So, I leave it and the rest of the plants be.

I check the trimmed stems of L. repens in the white kitchen sink. Only against the white background I can see that the top of the leaves are not completely green but do have just a touch of color. I check the leaves' edges and do not find any bites from snails (more on this later). I also do not find GSA on the lower leaves. Therefore, I will not change my fert dosing just yet.

I check the R. 'bangladesh' and it looks totally green in the tank. The internodes are on the longer side, telling me that it could use a bit more light.

As I have removed a chunk of floating plants, it will be interesting to see if more light will benefit the rotala and the L. repens.

With the exception of a couple of rotten stems on Vesuvius, there are no rotting matter in the tank. That's good news. I check the outflow, the rocks, and the tank corners for BBA. I cannot find any (another smile). If BBA does not show up on it's own, I will do a 'BBA test' in a couple of weeks.

The last thing I do is double-check the glass for GDA and GSA. I only find some spots around the tank. I take a bunch of pictures and, lo and behold, they show a lot more GDA and GSA that I could see with my naked eyes. The glass will get cleaned at the next water change and I make a mental note to dump in some extra K.

Overall, I am happy. So far, my initial guesses on light, ferts, and flow seem to be holding. But the tank is not even 2 months old and popping open the champagne would be a bit premature.